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Raised Leaf Stitch Tutorial

The raised leaf stitch has a fluffy appearance, and it’s one you will commonly see in stumpwork embroidery. I just recently learned how to make this stitch, and it’s one I will definitely be using more often. It takes a couple of tries to get the hang of it but once you do, I think you’ll really enjoy stitching with it!

How To Do The Raised Leaf Stitch

You’ll need a heavy piece of card stock for this stitch along with the usual embroidery supplies. Also, I think this stitch looks best when you use stranded embroidery floss or crewel wool.

strip of card stock
  1. Cut a small strip of card stock that’s about 1/4 -1/3 of an inch wide.
raised leaf stitch step 1 - placing paper on the fabric

2. Place the paper with the edge on top of the fabric where you want to stitch.

raised leaf stitch step 2 - making a stitch over the paper

3. Begin by making a stitch over top of the strip of paper. Make sure that the stitches are very close to one another on either side of the paper.

step 3 - a group of stitch over the paper

4. Work from bottom to top, making about 4-6 stitches along the paper.

step 4 - placing needle through the stitches

5. Bring your needle and thread up at the base of stitches and place the working thread through the stitches that are wrapped around the paper.

step 5 - removing the paper

6. Remove the paper.

step 6 - forming the leaf

7. Gently pull the working thread down. You may need to carefully fluff the stitches a little bit to get them to lay neatly.

raised leaf stitch

8. Bring the working thread back down through the fabric to secure the stitch.

Pretty neat, right? You can experiment with different amounts of thread and the quantity of stitches you make to play around with the look and shape of the leaf.

If you enjoyed this tutorial and you’re ready to learn more, I suggest you check out this post for 9 other ways to embroider leaves or this stumpwork tutorial for making wirework leaves.

raised leaf embroidery stitch

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